The starboy himself, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun (Wizkid) keeps cementing the feet of Afrobeats music firmly on the world map and we all are loving every single bit of it.
Last week, the song ‘Essence’‘ by Wizkid featuring Tems broke the record of becoming the first fully Nigerian song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, debuting at number 82. Just a week after that, the song has made very impressive progress, moving ten spots up and is now currently sitting at number 72 on the current billboard chart for the week ending July 24th.
Essence has been getting massive positive reception from fans in Nigeria and diaspora since it’s release as part of Wizkid’s album Made In Lagos back in 2020.
It’s reception and success has since tripled right from the start of summer 2021, with so many foreign celebrities including Rihanna, Snoop Dogg, Kylie Jenner, Bella Hadid, Kevin Hart, Will Smith, Alicia Keys, Saweetie, Toni Braxton, Swizz Beatz and foreign fans alike seen grooving to the song on social media.
It also seems to be a mandatory song to be played at any fun gathering around the world in recent months, with foreign fans tagging it as the “Song of the summer”. This is a great feat for Wizkid and Tems, for Afrobeats and for the Nigerian music industry in general.
Even as it happens to be Tems‘s first ever Billboard appearance, this isn’t the first time Wizkid would be listed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with his feature on Drake‘s worldwide monster hit, One Dance back in 2016 grabbing the number one spot and staying at number one for several months, it earned Wiz his first ever billboard recognition.
His feature on the song Brown Skin Girl, off Beyonce‘s ‘The Lion King: The Gift‘ album, peaked at no. 76 back in 2019 when it was released earning him his second billboard hot 100 spot and a Grammy award for best Music video at the 63rd Grammy Awards Ceremony, with the song Essence making this his third Billboard appearance.
Before the Hot 100 chart was updated for this week, Essence had grabbed yet another Billboard milestone being the first Nigerian song be number one in World Digital Song Sales. The song was also featured on Billboard’s 50 best songs released this year so far.
The year 2021 is undeniably a super special one for Wizkid, and we can only wait in excitement and anticipation to see him conquer greater milestones as the days go by.
